Vegan Breakfast Quinoa

I’m actually happy that December is here already, bring on the holiday cheer! November ended roughly for me with two crazy days at work and crazy stormy weather the last 4 days now, so I’m hoping things slow down a bit for the holidays. Hubby and I started the weekend with a relaxing dinner out at one of our favorite local restaurants in the pouring rain last night where we shared the hummus flat bread platter.

And by shared, I mean I ate most of it because I was starving after a long day! And I got the vegan veggie pizza with eggplant puree for my main entree.

This time they used chopped green olives on it adding a wonderful tangy flavor. It’s such a huge pizza, that I always end up with leftovers to get creative with for the next night.

I’m in a breakfast rut, smoothies with a raw vegan protein powder are my go to breakfast on weekdays because they’re fast, simple, nutrient dense, and easy on my half-awake stomach before work.

I’ve gotten into such a rut with them that I usually have them on the weekends too before a morning workout. But the weather is still icky – cold, windy, and rainy.

Our backyard is a drenched mud pit after 4 days of intense rain.

And Miko would rather stay nestled in his soft blanket than go outside and do his business.

So I decided to try something a little different for breakfast this morning – a breakfast quinoa recipe. I drool over the amazing oatmeal bowls I see around the blogosphere and Instagram, but rarely make it for myself since it tends to be time consuming. But cooking quinoa is not and it turns out that quinoa is a great speedy oatmeal alternative.

Vegan Breakfast Quinoa

1 cup unsweetened almond milk (I used vanilla flavor)

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 tbsp. agave nectar or 1/2 tsp. stevia powder

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries

Bring almond milk and quinoa to a light boil in a small sauce pan. Cover and reduce heat to a low simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and mix in agave nectar, cinnamon, and berries. Serve and enjoy. Makes 2 servings.

I thawed frozen berries for the recipe since I didn’t have fresh on hand.

The quinoa cooked fast in the almond milk and had a smoother texture from it.

The juices from the berries added a nice color to the bowl.

And it was a delicious warm and comforting breakfast for such a dreary and gray day. The texture of the quinoa was so similar to steel cut oats to me with a hearty, but soft and moist consistency.

And I liked that it was fast and easy leaving me plenty of time to head to the gym for a run before running around on a busy list of errands and chores today.